It's Raining Books

Over this year and last I have been blessed with so much, one of them is books. I got them cheap from Payless, MPH, and Popular warehouse/ annual/ clearance sales. An acquaintance who is moving house offered me her novels for RM1 each, (they are all bestseller novels, so I paid RM2 instead). Another friend gave me the first "right of refusal" before donating her late husband’s book collection to charity. I have in total about 100 books from these hauls. I have read some, given away some and have now 64 books left to keep me happy well into the end of 2009. Such that I am not renewing my MPH membership card that expired in July, and I choose to ignore emails from Payless.

Last night, soon after after watching House (Season 4 Episode 11) about a doctor falling sick in South Pole, I turned on my computer to this site which reviews, among other things, the medical accuracy of the show. A poster says that the episode is based on the real-life story of Dr Jerry Nielsen, as told in her book Ice Bound. Instantly I had a light bulb moment! I slowly turned around to my bookshelf, and ta-da, there's the very book! Subhanallah. And do you know how much I paid for the book? RM1! Almost brand new from Payless Books. I am reading it now! I am putting it down just to post this story.

With my inclination towards medical related stuff, maybe this is something I should do when I grow older? Too late to become a doctor, but maybe a nurse? Or a doctor's wife?

ETA: I have finished reading Ice Bound; it's very good. Another amazing co-incidence: Dr. Jerri Nielsen wrote that while in South Pole, she often read a book entitled Endurance : Shackleton's Incredible Voyage. You know what? I have that book TOO! :))

Akhlak Muslim - Sebaran Berita

Untuk ingatan pada diri Embak dan pembaca. Dari kuliah Ustaz Kariman, Darul Ta'lim 8 Ogos, 2008.

An Nisaa' Ayat 83 yang mahfumnya:

"Dan apabila datang kepada mereka suatu berita tentang keamanan ataupun ketakutan, mereka lalu menyiarkannya. Dan kalau mereka menyerahkannya kepada Rasul dan Ulil Amri di antara mereka, tentulah orang-orang yang ingin mengetahui kebenarannya (akan dapat) mengetahuinya dari mereka (Rasul dan Ulil Amri). Kalau tidaklah kerana kurnia dan rahmat Allah kepada kamu, tentulah kamu mengikut syaitan, kecuali sebahagian kecil sahaja (di antara kamu)."

Antara pengajaran dari ayat ini:

1.Tidak wajar menyebar apa-apa berita, baik yang positif atau negatif sebelum diketahui kesahihannya. Haruslah berhati-hati dalan amalan "forward-mengforward" sms atau emel yang sudah menjadi kelaziman sekarang.

2. Hendaklah merujuk kepada Rasulullah atau Ulil Amri pada zaman dahulu mengenai kesahihan berita. Masa sekarang hendaklah dirujuk kepada Kerajaan atau badan-badan yang diberi kuasa, contohnya Jakim, RTM dll.

3. Hendaklah menahan diri dari menyebar berita yang benar (apatah lagi yang tidak) sekiranya dikhuatiri berita tersebut akan membawa keresahan/kekacauan awam.

Wallahu a'lam. Allah jua yang lebih mengetahui.

08.08.08 Olympic Images

Courtesy of Getty Images. More here.

Celebrating MRSM Kota Bharu's 35th Anniversary

The Menu

Taman Sekebun Bunga platter

Sup burung puyuh Dewan Makan

Pengetua's stir-fried tiger prawn with oatmeal flakes

Ikan masak lemak cili padi Nenek Rozlin

Daging kuzi juadah Warden

Ayam masak merah Bilik Menunggu

Stir-fried mixed vegetables hidangan Pok Mat

Nasi putih Prebet Sapu

Chilled pearl sago Block Captain with tropical mango

Mr Freshie brewed coffee or Miss Freshie brewed tea

Glossary (for the uninitiated)

Taman Sekebun Bunga: A favorite hangout place in pekan Kota Bharu

Dewan Makan: Our common chow place

Pengetua: Headmaster/headmistress

Warden: The guy with the rotan

Nenek Rozlin: The resident ghoul

Bilik Menunggu: Where the students wait for their parents expecting goodies and moolah, usually during weekends

Pok Mat: Our beloved bus drivers. We had two: Pok Mat Senior and Pok Mat Muda

Prebet Sapu: Our preferred mode of transportation to Kota Bharu(usually after receiving pocket money)

Block Captain: The most powerful guy/gal in the hostel

Mr and Ms Freshie: The cuties voted by seniors at the end of Orientation Week

The house with the blue door

This is an actual line from the film, Notting Hill. But whilst I was in Penang last week, I actually stayed in a house with a blue door. It’s a charming old house, (51 years old according to the present owner)perched on a slight slope facing Green Lane,that’s still ringing with traffic noise at 3 in the morning. What is interesting about this door is that apart from the blue paint, there are a few sheets of blue glass encased in aluminium frame that I am not accustomed to seeing unlike the green, orange, red glass I find in so many Klang Valley or Melaka houses.

I thought this door is pretty and unique. But after looking at my other Penang pictures, I notice another blue door of my colleague’s late grandfather’s old bungalow in the middle of Georgetown where I had a scrumptious dinner the first night. The dinner spread deserves another writing exercise by itself, but I do not have enough vocabulary or writing talent to do the food justice. But suffice to say, it was emm emm finger licking good... So, there you have it. A lot of Penang’s old houses have blue doors and windows- another point to the list of things that make Penang charming to me.

BTW, I un-lucked out at FNM. The place was uncharacteristically quiet when Roz and I got there. True enough, the place was raided three days ago, and as a result, the DVD vendors were keeping low. Hopefully by November, the place is up and buzzing again. Wink, wink.

DSAI vs Shabery Cheek Debate

A historic debate indeed. Never seen before in Malaysia; ala US Republican vs Democrat presidential debate. But, Ouch! So one-sided. I give victory to DSAI for staying on topic and supporting his points with facts and figures, but kudos to Dato Shabery for taking on DSAI; not many people would wager his post for this kind of showdown. I just wish the Government had sent a more able representative; someone more knowledgable about economics, also a seasoned politician.

I must give credit to the Government for giving DSAI airtime, so that a layperson such as I who prefers to stay party-less is able to hear two sides of the story. But sadly, only one side provided substance, the other just air.

Berbalas Puisi

These poems were put up in my alumni discussion group. Original source is unknown.

Istriku,
jika engkau bumi,
akulah matahari.

Aku akan menyinari mu kerana engkau mengharapkan sinaran dari ku.
Ingatlah bahtera yang kita kayuh, begitu penuh riak gelombang.
Aku pasti akan tetap menyinari bumi, hingga kadang-kadang bumi terasa akan silauanku.
Lantas aku ingat satu hal bahawa Tuhan mencipta bukan hanya bumi,
malah ada planet lain yang juga mengharapkan sinaranku.

Lalu.....
Relakanlah aku menyinari planet lain,
menyampaikan faedah adanya aku,
kerana sudah takdir Illahi sinaranku diperlukan diplanet
lain...


***Balasan puisi sang istri***

Suamiku,
andai kau memang mentari,
sang suria yang memberi cahaya,
aku merelakan engkau berikan sinaranmu kepada segala planet
yang telah TUHAN ciptakan
kerana mereka juga seperti aku perlukan cahayamu
dan....

akupun juga tidak akan merasa kekurangan dengan sinaran mu...

AKAN TETAPIIIIIIII....

Bila kau hanya sejengkal lilin yang berkekuatan 5 watt sahaja,
jangan lah bermimpi untuk menyinari planet lain!!!
Kerana bilik tidur kita yang kecil pun belum sanggup kau terangi.
Lihatlah diri mu pada cermin kaca di sudut kamar kita,
di tengah remang-remang pancaran cahaya mu yang telah aku mengerti...
Cuba lihat siapa dirimu...
MATAHARI atau lilin ?

atau jangan-jangan

cuma mancis saja

SCRABBLE

I just have to share this. It'd be selfish not to. I learn this from a book, Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis on the world of competitive Scrabble players which takes me ages to finish. I labour because this book, even though fascinating, is too dry to sustain my interest beyond 10 pages per reading that I have to interlace it with fiction. Since I have started this book, I have finished the exhilirating Carol Shields’ Republic of Love, attempted but decided not to finish the depressing Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, and now in the midst of the beautiful Pulitzer prize winner The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (the film adaptation which Ebert conferred 4 stars has just been added to my list of must-have DVDs). Ok, coming back to the excerpts:

An anagram is a word or a phrase that is formed by transposing the letters of another word or phrase, Eg: MAIDSERVANT, ANIMADVERTS. ERIC CLAPTON, NARCOLEPTIC

The word anagrams itself anagrams to the Latin ars magna, or great art.

Anagramming can be about turning words into apposite phrases. Dimitri Borgmann, the father of modern wordplay, offers anagrams for:

VILLANOUSNESS – an evil soul’s sin
CONVERSATION – voices rant on
DESPERATION – a rope ends it

He also lists antigrams – words and phrases with opposite meanings, such as:

EVANGELISTS – evil’s agents
MILITARISM – I limit arms

Consider the following:

BRITNEY SPEARS – PRESBYTERIANS – best in prayers
President Clinton of the USA – to copulate, he finds interns.

The cleverest of all: 11 + 2 = 12 + 1 ; Eleven + Two = Twelve + One

Now to the three, occasionally four people who read my blog; I have one travel set and 1 deluxe set slowly rotting from want of use. When are you free for a match? We will try to emulate the professionals on one thing, i.e. to use the chess clock and each player keeps his/her game below 25 minutes, howzat?

Peculiar "Angin"

I accompanied a friend to Giant recently. As she was choosing microwave-able, rubber + plastic combo tableware, she explained, that she has stopped using ceramic plates or Corelleware, Pyrex or the like. I thought, she has small children in her house. Nope, she lives alone with the husband. Her children have grown and have left the nest. It's because the husband has a habit of hurling the bowl or plate of dishes he found not meeting his standard of "sedap".

"Ini macam orang pun ada ka?", the voice in my head retorted. To my knowledge, this friend is a very good cook. I didn't ask my friend how many times had the husband abuse her like that. But she mentioned that she had lost too many expensive dinnerware.

Now she uses matching Swordman tableware with individual lids.

LASY

When I began working some years ago, I invested in a set of Lasy building blocks for my then, 3 year old brother. I paid RM350 for the set which I thought was princely, but I bought it anyway because I wanted my baby brother to create and invent and be brilliant. That boy is now 22 years old and studying to become an engineer. Alhamdulillah!

Unforeseen then was these blocks would also be played again and again by 18 nieces and nephews as they came into the world and grew. The 19th nephew is only 5 months old, so he’s yet to discover the joy of Lasy. One nephew Hakeem, who is 8 years old still plays with the set. Whenever he comes to visit every other week, the first thing he does after shaking hands with Atok and Nenek would be to scour the toy bin for these pieces.The set is shrinking now as some pieces become damaged or simply disappear.

I think the Lasy set has been the best investment that I have ever made.

Here’s a picture of cousins Ashraf and Shasha in a creative moment.

Days Gone By

These days, my alma mater yahoogroup is very active when some of the members upload old photographs. We all cringe at our garb and hair. Those were impressionable days, good memories for some, but for me it was not quite so happy. I was infamous to my seniors for reason oblivious to me; they gave me a nickname "Desperado". Remember, at that time, it was a hit song by the group Bread. Until today, I still wonder why I was called that. But time is a good healer. I have since forgiven them all.

The above is a photo of the "boys". The guy in the middle (wearing tinted glasses) is today a very outspoken MP, seen here breaking fast with his buddies in 1981.



The next photo has the same MP and another ex-MP in a band. Those were the days, when our sole worry was how to make the selection to overseas U after our SPM. We are much older now, wrinkles, grey hair and reading glasses are the order of the day. Hopefully we are wiser too.

The Last Sermon Of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W)

One of the TV stations showed this message after an azan; I was particularly alarmed by the warning againsts Satan's tactics in misguiding us in small things. So I scan the internet for the complete sermon to be a constant reminder to us all.

This sermon was delivered on the Ninth Day of Dhul-Hijjah, 10 A.H. (632 CE) in the 'Uranah valley of Mount Arafat in Makkah. It was the occasion of the annual rites of Hajj (the pilgrimage). It is also known as the Farewell Pilgrimage.

After praising, and thanking Allah (The One True God) the Prophet began with the words: "O People! Lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this year I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore, listen carefully to what I am saying and Take These Words to Those Who Could Not Be Present Here Today.

“O People! just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your LORD, and that he will indeed reckon your deeds.

“Allah has forbidden you to take usury (interest), therefore all interest obligations shall henceforth be waived. Your capital is yours to keep. You will neither inflict nor suffer any inequity. Allah has Judged that there shall be no interest and that all the interest due to Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib (Prophet's uncle) be waived.

“Every right arising out of homicide in pre-Islamic days is henceforth waived and the first such right that I waive is that arising from the murder of Rabiah ibn al-Harithiah.

“O Men! the unbelievers indulge in tampering with the calender in order to make permissible that which Allah forbade, and to prohibit which Allah has made permissible. With Allah the months are twelve in number. Four of them are holy, three of these are successive and one occurs singly between the months of Jumada and Shaban.

“Beware of Satan, for the safety of your religion. He has lost all hope of that he will be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things.

“O People! it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women but they also have rights over you. Remember that you have taken them as your wives only under Allah's trust and with His permission. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers. And it is your right that they do not make friends with anyone of whom you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste.

“O People! listen to me in earnest, worship Allah, say your five daily prayers, fast during month of Ramadan, and give your wealth in Zakat (obligatory charity). Perform Hajj if you can afford to.
“All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly.

“Do not therefore do injustice to yourselves. Remember one day you will meet Allah and answer your deeds. So beware, do not astray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.

“O People! No Prophet or Apostle Will Come after Me and No New Faith Will Be Born. Reason well, therefore, O People! and understand words which I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the QUR’AN and my SUNNAH (i.e., sayings, deeds, and approvals) and if you follow these you will never go astray.

“All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly.

“Be my witness O Allah, that I have conveyed your message to your people."

As part of this sermon, the Prophet recited them a Revelation from Allah which he had just received and which completed the Qur’an, for it was the last passage to be revealed:

This day the disbelievers despair of prevailing against your religion, so fear them not, but fear Me (Allah)! This day have I perfected for you your religion and fulfilled My favor unto you, and it hath been My good pleasure to choose Islam for you as your religion (Surah 5, Ayah 3).

The sermon was repeated sentence by sentence by Safwan's brother Rabiah (RA), who had a powerful voice, at the request of the Prophet and he faithfully proclaimed to over ten thousand gathered on the occasion.

Toward the end of his sermon, the Prophet asked “O people, have I faithfully delivered unto you my message?" A powerful murmur of assent “O Allah, yes!", arose from thousands of pilgrims and the vibrant words “Allahumma na’m” rolled like thunder throughout the valley.

The Prophet raised his forefinger and said: “Be my witness O Allah, that I have conveyed your message to your people."

After the storm

Some new discoveries following GE12 (or PRU12)*, so far…

1. PAS is now “cool” to my eyes after seeing its “poster boy”** in a Parliament session. Thanks to YouTube.

2. Nurul Izzah is a chip of the old block. Boy, the lass can really talk. Thanks to YouTube.

3. The Sultans actually possess power to appoint their MB.

4. Tun Mahathir’s political history in 1969 which his son is set to repeat.

5. The stock market is one sensitive beast.

I am happy that the voice of the rakyat (and the bloggers) is a force to be reckoned with, but am a bit unsettled about the instability of the government. I wish I could use Hugh Grant in Notting Hill, “surreal but nice”comment, but I can't. I have butterflies in my stomach.

Notes:
* Not referring to the 2 giant insurance companies.
** Datuk Husam Musa.